Smithtown, Bellport, the City, and back to Smithtown...and so it begins

"Okay, so here's the list of what needs to get done before the start of the next DTS" says the director of the school in our weekly staff meeting. "We need to touch up paint in the theater, the dinning room, the lobby.  We need to paint all the doors in the girls wing." I'm sitting in my chair at the table thinking that I really shouldn't be surprised by this list that will no doubt be growing and growing and growing...did i mention the fact that it'll grow? We are in pre-hell week mode right now.  Pre-hell week is the week we begin the swarms of lists of stuff to do, and fix, and buy to get ready for the up coming school. Next week we have the joy of entering hell week.  The week where we tackle all of the above said lists.

You're probably wondering what I've been up to these last 6 months since the last school ended.  I know i would be.  And I'll tell you exactly what I've been up to.  Nothing.  I mean, yes, I've been here at the base doing whatever needs to be done.  But that's it.  Nothing exciting has happened.  We were all prepared for a crazy busy summer of summer teams.  We were all geared up to be swamped, and we had...one team.  The entire summer.  But that one team was AMAZING.  They were a BLAST to hang around and get to know. We spent that week in the city doing Prayer Stations, and helping out with a mobile food pantry, The Relief Bus.  We also spent one day at Lighthouse Mission in Bellport. Lighthouse is also a mobile food pantry focusing on Long Island, mainly Suffolk County. Aside from that, during the summer, us, as a staff, would try to do one ministry day a week.  Whether it be Prayer Stations in the city, helping out Relief Bus, or helping out Lighthouse Mission.

Alright, back to what's going on with the next school.  As of right now, we have 19 accepted students.  4 guys and 15 girls (quite the ratio, huh?) But with that said, it shall be an amazing time nonetheless.  Both for the students who are about to have their worlds rocked, and the staff, who know kind of what to expect, but at the same time, not at all.  Every school is COMPLETELY different from the previous school.  There's always that fleeting thought in the back of your mind when every school starts, "what if this school doesn't get along with each other". Well, for one thing, it will definitely make for some interesting dynamics during lecture phase, and certainly outreach. But from all the stories I've heard here, and at varies YWAM bases in my travels, I have yet to hear a story where that was the case.  The norm for DTS's is within the first week to two weeks, people become best friends with a select few, and just "normal friends" with a bunch of other people.  I say "normal friends" cause let's be honest, who is "normal" nowadays? No one...and it takes a special kind of person to do a DTS.

This is just the first of many updates to come.  I'm hoping to send out updates at least every two weeks. But I am going to try to send them out every week.

With the wind,
Mark